News and analysis on politics, human rights and civil society in Latin America by Geoffrey Ramsey

Monday, January 7, 2013

Bolivia Accuses U.S. of Intervening in Extortion Case in Order to Undermine Morales Govt

As the number of suspects involved in an alleged plot by
Bolivian officials to extort U.S. businessman Jacob Ostreicher continues to
grow, the Bolivian government has accused the United States of using the case
to delegitimize President Evo Morales. On January 4th, Bolivian
prosecutors accused
a judge and Santa Cruz court official of taking part in an attempt to
extort Ostreicher, who has been imprisoned in the country for the past year and
a half.

Ostreicher was arrested in June 2011 after officials accused
him of buying land from a Brazilian drug trafficker, although he has yet to be formally
charged with a crime. The Brooklyn-born entrepreneur has maintained his innocence,
and accused the Bolivian prosecution of trying to extract millions of dollars
in payments from him in exchange for his release. As the case began to attract
international attention, so did Ostreicher’s allegations against prosecutors,
eventually resulting in the arrest of at least twelve suspects, including
judges, lawyers and an Interior Ministry official.

The case has shone a spotlight on government corruption in
Bolivia, especially within the country’s rickety judicial sector. As the New
York Times reported in its recent profile of the case, Ostreicher’s
treatment is not unusual “by Bolivian standards.” Fleecing wealthy prisoners is
a relatively common practice in the country, and some two-thirds of inmates in Bolivian
prisons are still awaiting
trials.

In his initial response to Ostreicher’s allegations, President
Evo Morales called for a full investigation, although his administration insisted
that the American’s arrest was lawful and necessary. But now, Morales has adopted a
shift in rhetoric. La
Razon reports that on Sunday Morales accused the U.S. embassy in La Paz of meddling
in the Ostreicher case in order to delegitimize his government. Minister for
the Presidency Juan Ramon Quintana told reporters that Bolivia has “irrefutable”
proof that the embassy is working to “damage the image” of the Morales
administration, and said that the evidence will be turned over to U.S. President
Barack Obama.

While diplomatic relations between the United States and
Bolivia have been tense ever since Morales expelled Ambassador Philip Goldberg
and all DEA agents from the country in 2008, they seemed to be improving of
late. The two countries had pledged
to exchange ambassadors once again, and in November Morales publicly
congratulated Obama on his re-election. The Bolivian government’s
accusations, however, may indicate a return to chilly relations between the two
countries.

News Briefs

On Saturday, Venezuela’s National Assembly re-elected
Diosdado Cabello as president of the legislative body, meaning that he is now
poised to become temporary head of state if President Hugo Chavez dies or is otherwise
unable to take office, at least until elections can be held. While some
analysts and members
of the Venezuelan opposition continue to describe Cabello as a political
rival of Vice President Nicolas Maduro, publicly the two have shown no sign of
tension and have vowed to work together if Chavez dies. Meanwhile, with the
January 10th inauguration date fast approaching and Chavez seemingly still
unfit to be sworn in, the Wall
Street Journal reports that uncertainty is growing in Venezuela over the
constitutionality of Chavez staying in power without taking an oath of office.
According to Vice President Maduro, however, this is not a problem. Maduro told reporters
on Saturday that Chavez will continue in office after January 10th,
saying “the formality of being sworn in can be resolved later by the Supreme
Court."

The New
York Times’ Elisabeth Rosenthal takes on the National Rifle Association’s
recent call for gun-toting security guards in schools across the United States
by making a comparison to several Latin American countries where armed guards
are a ubiquitous sight and yet crime is rampant.

The New York Times also offers an in-depth look at Uruguayan
president and former Tupamaro guerrilla Jose Mujica, praising him for his modern
“low-key radicalism” and austere lifestyle. Asked if he was worried by a
recent drop in his popularity, Mujica
responded by saying “I don’t give a damn,” and insisted that he considers
running for re-election (which is illegal in Uruguay) to be “monarchic.”

La
Republica reports on opposition in Peru to the Peruvian Congress’ recent decision
to double the minimum salary of representatives; the figure now stands at 41
times the minimum wage in the country.

Also published in the Times over the weekend is a profile of
the Peruvian
mining town of Morococha, which is slated to be razed by a Chinese mining firm
interested in building a copper mine. While the company has built a new town
six miles away and already helped 700 residents relocate, many locals are
resisting the move, demanding more compensation from the company.

Bolivia has announced the opening of its first lithium
plant, on the edge of the Uyuni salt flats in the southwest of the country. According
to Pagina
Siete, the plant is expected to produce 40 tons of lithium carbonate
annually, just a fraction of the amount that the country hopes to export in the
coming years. The Uyuni salt flats are believed to be the site of the largest
untapped lithium reserves in the country.

The government of Honduras has dismissed its ambassador to Colombia,
after a scandal in which the ambassador’s personal aide threw an alleged “sex
party” in the country’s embassy in Bogota on December 20th, which ultimately
resulted in the facilities being trashed and two computers being stolen.
Instead of firing the employee, Ambassador Carlos Humberto Rodriguez attempted
to hide the incident from the press, El
Heraldo reports.

A new report in Foreign
Affairs magazine claims that Secretary of State nominee John Kerry held a
series of secret meetings with Cuba’s foreign minister in 2010 in an effort to
ensure the release of imprisoned U.S. government contractor Alan Gross. Writing
for Foreign Policy’s Shadow
Government blog, former USAID official and conservative commentator Jose
Cardenas criticized the attempt as a “lesson on the folly of attempting to appease
dictators.”

A voluntary disarmament program in Mexico City which allows
locals to hand over illegal weapons in exchange for cash and with no questions
asked has proved to be immensely popular. According to El Universal, the
program has collected 866 weapons since it began on December 24th,
including a dozen assault rifles and six hand grenades.

The L.A.
Times conducted an interview with Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y
Paz, in which the official spoke candidly about her struggle with organized
crime, corrupt judges, and the legacy of the 1961-1996 civil war.

About The Author

Geoff Ramsey works as a communications officer for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). Before joining WOLA, Ramsey worked as a researcher for the Open Society Foundation’s Latin America Program. His most recent work involved monitoring civil society advocacy for and implementation of 2013 drug policy reforms in Uruguay, where he lived for nearly two years. Prior to that he spent two years living in Colombia and Brazil, where he researched and reported on regional insecurity issues for InSight Crime. Any views or opinions expressed in these posts are the sole responsibility of the author. Email: gramsey (at) thepanamericanpost (dot) com